For the first time in decades, housing policy is back in the national political spotlight.

Several top candidates in a massive field vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination have already rolled out plans to soothe a rash of regional housing emergencies brought on by a post-recession surge in real estate prices.

A house for sale in Wingfield Springs in Sparks.

A house for sale in Wingfield Springs in Sparks.

Andy Barron/RGJ

A handful have even spelled out their housing proposals in Nevada newspaper editorials, a sure sign that they expect the spiraling affordability crisis to be top-of-mind for many participants in the Silver State’s crucial early caucus.

A Reno Gazette Journal review of policy blueprints from 9 of the 10 highest-polling 2020 hopefuls found proposed reforms ranged from eviction protections to baby bonds, though most candidates tended to focus on three better-known policy tools: Housing trust funds, tax credits and zoning reforms.

Nevada housing experts reached by the RGJ tended to favor trust fund-heavy proposals that they said would help the state build its way out of the housing crunch.

They were particularly fond of platforms pushed by Julian Castro, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker.

“In my opinion, they are more thoughtful and comprehensive than what other candidates have put out,” said J.D. Klippenstein, executive director of ACTIONN, a Reno-based housing nonprofit. “They are also much closer to the scale of investment we need to truly address a growing national housing affordability crisis.

“In particular, all three call for a significant increase in funding to the National Housing Trust Fund, which is one of the most important tools we have at the federal level and I think a threshold policy for any candidate's housing plan or proposal.”

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman and ex-Senate candidate, did not return requests for comment. Here’s a closer look at what the other candidates are calling for:

Housing trust funds

Progressive U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Warren, D-Mass., have released plans that are heavily reliant on multibillion-dollar cash infusions into the National Housing Trust Fund. The fund, created in 2016, doles out money to states to help build permanently affordable housing for the poorest households.

Warren: The senator in March released a characteristically detailed proposal that aims to add $500 billion to the fund over the next 10 years. She says that investment will help create 3.2 million housing units and 1.5 million new jobs over the next decade, eventually lowering rents by some 10 percent.

The two-term senator’s plan goes on to propose additional down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers in formerly red-lined or segregated neighborhoods and $2 billion in aid for underwater homeowners.

Her plan — paid for through the restoration of an estate tax on high-dollar inheritances — would also put $10 billion into a new program that offers infrastructure grants to local officials who reform land use rules to encourage affordable housing development.

Sanders is yet to release a similarly comprehensive housing plan, though he did make the issue the centerpiece of a May campaign stop in Reno.

The 77-year-old self-described Democratic socialist later told the RGJ that he would put more than $500 billion into the housing trust fund by 2029, creating “millions” of new units in the process. He plans to pay for it with a progressive income tax on top income-earners.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has advanced a different take on trust-funded housing construction.

His plan would create a public trust to buy up abandoned properties in several pilot cities and hand them over to qualified residents. A policy brief on Buttigieg’s website also promises the candidate would work to expand eviction protections, reform local land use rules and fund a “national investment” in affordable housing construction.

Refundable tax credits

Plans published by U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Booker, D-N.J., lean heavily on new tax credits for those spending a large part of their income on rent.

Harris, the Golden State’s former attorney general, says she would create a $6,000 refundable credit for rent-burdened households making less than $100,000.

That’s on top of a $100 billion influx in federal grants for down payments and closing-cost assistance in historically segregated communities and a planned tightening of anti-discrimination laws. Harris wants to fund the changes by eliminating the sweeping, Republican-authored tax cuts passed in December 2018.

Booker — the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and the only top contender who actually lives in a low-income neighborhood — wants to give rent-burdened households a $4,800 credit that he says will benefit more than 57 million people and lift 9.4 million Americans out of poverty.

He’s also promised $16 billion in federal block grants to local officials who loosen land use rules to encourage affordable housing development, and a $40 billion cash injection to “fully fund” the housing trust fund.

Unique among his competitors, Booker will also look to create a “baby bond” program for newborns throughout the country. The new, federally funded savings accounts would initially be seeded with $1,000 that Booker says could grow by up to $2,000 every year, depending on family income.

In a statement, Booker’s campaign said he will fund new housing initiatives with “reforms to provisions of the tax code that benefit the wealthiest households, including capital gains rates, the estate tax, and the top individual rate.”

In this Oct. 12, 2018, photo, homes fill a small valley in Reno. A population inrush to Nevada has ...more

In this Oct. 12, 2018, photo, homes fill a small valley in Reno. A population inrush to Nevada has been driven by people seeking more affordable housing and a growing tech industry around Reno.

John Locher, AP

Local zoning reforms

Joe Biden, the former vice president and longtime Democratic poll leader, has offered scant details on his plan to create more affordable housing.

A campaign spokesman confirmed Biden’s approach to the issue is rooted in climate policies found on the candidate’s website, where Biden pledges to tell the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to increase efficiency of low-income housing.

He also promises to “alter” local regulations to reduce sprawl and make it easier for developers to build — a common refrain among many of Biden’s fellow Democratic front-runners.

Take Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and attorney best known for his plan to give every American a $1,000 monthly “freedom dividend.”

He, like Biden, didn’t need more than a few paragraphs to sum up a housing platform that relies on working with local officials to “relax zoning ordinances for the purpose of increasing the development of affordable housing.”

Yang also plans to encourage the building of alternative housing options such as micro-apartments and “communal living for people in high-density urban areas.”

The Heartwood Estates are under construction in Wingfield Springs, Jan. 10, 2018.

The Heartwood Estates are under construction in Wingfield Springs, Jan. 10, 2018.

Andy Barron

Castro, the ex-mayor of San Antonio and HUD secretary under former President Barack Obama, has a more ambitious plan to loosen local development rules.

He wants to steer those reforms through a new presidential commission tasked with enacting revised federal land use guidelines.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that makes up just a fraction of the former federal housing chief’s comprehensive housing reform plan.

Castro is the only top candidate seeking a major overhaul of the agency’s popular Section 8 voucher program, which has been plagued by yearslong waiting lists and, critics say, overly burdensome eligibility criteria.

Castro’s plan would give a Section 8 voucher to everyone who needs one, while expanding access to the federally funded rental subsidy to all families that make less than 50 percent of their area’s median income.

Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii congresswoman polling slightly ahead of Castro, has not provided details on her housing plan.

In a statement, a Gabbard campaign spokesman said the candidate has regularly voted to protect funding for HUD’s various tax credit, block grant and voucher programs. Gabbard, he added, “remains committed to working to address this crisis."